Life at the bottom of the earth

  Cape Town, South Africa
Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Over the past few years, I've been an avid collector of long haul flights, jet lag remedies and passport stamps. Upon recently foregoing another hobby, my full time job, I have been interested to find out how a lack of corporate shackles could aid in my desire to conquer the world one visa at a time.
Given access to three weeks of anti academics (something they call "winter break"), I huddled with a small troop of HBS hombres and pondered the perfect locale with which to make our enthusiastic acquaintance. Since the stars of this story hail from Ghana, Israel and Lebanon, the list of "new and interesting" destinations proved to be rather exclusive. So like a bouncer at a Boston nightclub, we quickly sized up the possibilities, let in the token hotties and sent the rest to the BU undergrads.    
Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to pick South Africa as the most eligible destination. Like any alluring lass, she's beautiful, exotic, hard to reach and totally unavailable. We were immediately hooked, and the moment we finished our last final, our small multinational began the first stage of the southward journey by engaging in an academic phenomenon known as the December Diaspora.  
After a few days in New York, I became the maiden voyager as I boarded a South African A340 on Christmas Eve. While the quarters were typical of today's coach class cramp, I was instantly impressed by the quality of the cabin and the amenities at each seat. For the next 15 hours, I watched on demand movies, ate surprisingly decent food and pretended to sleep. Also adding to the experience was the unexpected presence of an old and wonderful friend, Aliza Reder. Living in different cities for our entire lives, she and I have a long standing tradition of running into each other in diverse locations.  Not surprisingly, this trend continued in Cape Town.
Arriving in Jo'burg the next afternoon, I was in remarkably good shape and was excited to stamp my size tens upon my sixth continent. After an uneventful spell in the SAA lounge, we caught a cramped two hour connection flight to CPT and heartily thanked the suitcase gods as all our luggage arrived in one piece.

A. African Skies

Lucky to have my classmate and Cape Town native, Amanda Krawitz, as my host while I waited for the rest of the boys to arrive, I was whisked through the dark and peaceful seaside metropolis to the very lovely district of Camp's Bay. Here I was deposited at the Krawitz family's stunning hillside compound and shown to my upstairs room where the smell of salt air was paired with the not too distant sounds of a very active Atlantic Ocean.
Heading out for a quick bite at a local pub, I found comfort in some local house wine and a simple but flavorful pizza. As we sat and chatted, I heard my name being called and I turned to see Aliza and her boyfriend Benji waving to us. Of all the gin joints...     
Waking up the next morning, I opened my metal shutters to find a perfect view of wide white sand beaches coaxing indigo waters into temperamental white foam. In its retreat from the ocean, the Earth quickly rose up to form verdant hillsides which were watched over by striking bare peaks with names like Table Mountain and Lion's Head.  It really was remarkable and I sighed out loud as I took it all in.

B. Me at the Krawitz's

E. Table Mountain from the Pool

C. Camps Bay

D. Lion's Head Stretching to the Beach

During the remainder of the day, we lounged by the pool and caught up on long forgotten magazines and other collections of writings that I used to call "readings of pleasure". I must have gotten through three quarters of The Economist by the time we started getting ready for the evening Braai". Amanda worked the kitchen while her boyfriend Marc manned the grill, "Braaing" copious amounts of meat, chicken and Boerewors (South African Sausage) As the sun retreated before us, we welcomed the evening and a few visitors: Amanda's Granny, Marc's Mum and a few of her friends. It was a fun evening with lots of food, drink and interesting conversation.

F. Marc and Amanda on the Braai

Later that night, we piled into my right hand rental and I carefully drove left of the line as we curved our way into the seapoint district and found "Jade". Entering well off the street, we climbed upstairs and joined some of Amanda's childhood friends in the Asian themed lounge. After enjoying a few Windhoek Lagers, we had yet another sighting of my shadow, as Aliza and Benji showed up. What are the chances?
The next day, I slept away the morning and joined the rest of the world during what working people call "the afternoon". Stomping out to my little Nissan, I more skillfully navigated my way over to the very popular local beach of Clifton. Meeting Amanda and her friends near Clifton #1, I was soon explained that each of the four sections had a different crowd: couples, young singles, kids and, of course, the gays.
I sat and relaxed on the perfect white sand as the young and beautiful of Cape Town paraded by, greeting old friends and making new ones. It was a great spot, clearly the place to be in Cape Town. Word must have gotten out, because Aliza and Benji also showed up and sat right by us.

G. Clifton #1

H. Look...It's Aliza!

I. Clifton Gets Hot

J. Table Mountain from the Road

After some more lounging, we headed back to the house for some additional lounging by the pool. Here we lounged and then lounged some more.
Did I mention the lounging?
Finally, we got ready for dinner and met up with some friends at Rick's, a decent knock off of Bogie's Moroccan hang out. For the meal, most of us enjoyed the daily catch, called "Line Fish" in SA. Tonight it was the ever popular "Mussel Cracker", which no one seemed to be able to describe... other than it being white.
They were right. It was white.
I drove home satiated and happy.
In thinking about my first few days here in Cape Town, I am struck by a few things. First, the physical beauty of this location is seldom witnessed anywhere else in the world. Most closely resembling Rio De Janeiro, it can also feel like San Diego or Santa Barbara from the right vantage point. But these comparisons do little justice as, in all honesty, it is probably more beautiful than all of these cities put together.
The people here are intriguing. As I have spent most of my time in Clifton and Camp's Bay, I have been mostly exposed to white and wealthy. They are extremely social, outgoing and friendly. They are also very into appearances and seem to really love their material possessions. There's not a lot of stress and life appears to be pretty darn good.
However, within in this paradise-like environment, one easily witnesses the left over effects of the Apartheid era.  Segregation is extreme while fear and racism can still exist in varying amounts, dependent on the age and background of the individual.  
It will be interesting to see how these things manifest themselves in other parts of the country.  Over the next few weeks, we'll head to the wine country, a game reserve and to Jo'burg. I have no doubt that each stop will give us a new perspective on this beautiful but complex nation.